Breast-feeding is the preferred method of feeding infants. However, there are circumstances that make breast-feeding impossible or less desirable. In those cases infant formulae are a good alternative. The composition of modern infant formulae is adapted in such a way that it meets many of the special nutritional requirements of the fast growing and developing infant.
However, differences between breast feeding and feeding infant formulae exist. Breastfeeding in early life is associated with higher bone mass density and bone mineral content later in life during childhood and early adolescence compared with those who were bottle-fed. The implication of this observation is that osteoporosis prevention programs need to start very early in the life cycle. Adult degenerative bone disease (osteoporosis), a major public health problem in the West, has been linked to peak bone mass attained in young adult life. Following attainment of peak bone mass, bone mineral content falls and may descend below the safety level for clinical disease. Most interventions to reduce the incidence of clinical disease have been in middle life.
Human milk is the major source of energy for many infants during the first part of their lives. It has a high content of the saturated fatty acid palmitic acid (20-25%), which is primarily located in the sn-2 position of the triacylglycerols (˜70%). The n-1, 3 positions of vegetable fats, normally used in infant formulae, are rich in saturated fatty acids such as palmitate and stearate and are not appropriate to be used in infant nutrition. The triglycerides are digested in the infant by lipases which release the sn-1, 3 fatty acids. When these palmitic- and stearic acids are released from vegetable triglycerides they tend to create salts of dietary calcium. Calcium salts of saturated fatty acids are insoluble and tend to precipitate and to be secreted from the body. This results in the loss of crucial calcium. Formation of calcium soaps causes loss in faeces of energy as well as of calcium, and this loss can be so high that it can influence bone mineralization, i.e. normal skeletal and bone development of the infant, as well as other aspects of normal health and development in infants. Hence, advanced infant formulas include synthetically structured fats produced to mimic the unique structure and characteristics of human milk fat. Such structured fats include Betapole or InFat which provide 22% total palmitic acid of which 43% is at the sn-2 position and 25% palmitic acid, up to 68% of which are at the sn-2 position, respectively.
WO 2005/07373 relates to compositions comprising such synthetically structured triglycerides with high levels of mono- or polyunsaturated fatty acids at positions sn-1 and sn-3 of the glycerol backbone, for use in enhancing calcium absorption and in the prevention and/or treatment of disorders associated with depletion of bone calcium and bone density, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, for the enhancement of bone formation and bone mass maximization and for the enhancement of bone formation in infants and young children.
WO 2007/097523 aims to provide a fat composition as a human milk substitute comprising a diglyceride in which unsaturated fatty acids are bonded in the 1,2-positions or 1,3-positions and a triglyceride containing a large amount of palmitic acid or stearic acid as a saturated fatty acid in the 2-position of the triglyceride.
WO 2005/051092 concerns a lipid preparation comprising a combination of phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol (PI), wherein the quantitative ratio between these glycerophospholipids essentially mimics their corresponding ratio in naturally occurring human milk fat.
Other infant formulae reduce the amount of palmitic acid to levels lower than that observed in human milk. EP 1252824 relates to a method for increasing the bone mineralization of an infant or toddler, comprises administering to said human a source of calcium and a fat blend that is low in palmitic acid.